Young Adult
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On this page:
◇ Mission Libertad by Lizette M. Lantigua, a reconsideration by Emily Chaffins ◇ Total Constant Order by Crissa-Jean Chappell, a reconsideration by J. Armelle ◇ We are the Ants by Shaun David Hutchinson, reviewed by Daniel Santos ◇ Five Ways to Fall by K.A. Tucker, reviewed by Jennifer Maritza McCauley ◇ Skink No Surrender by Carl Hiaasen, reviewed by Ed Irvin ◇ El Lector by William Durbin, reviewed by Guillermo Cancio-Bello ◇ Olivia Brophie and the Sky Island by Christopher Tozier, reviewed by Louis K. Lowy ◇ Anatomy of a Single Girl by Daria Snadowsky, reviewed by Ashley M. Jones ◇ Ten Tiny Breaths by K.A. Tucker, reviewed by Ashley M. Jones ◇ Lost in the River of Grass by Ginny Rorby, reviewed by Deb Alberto |
Archive:
Our most recent young adult reviews are on this page. For earlier ones, visit our young adult archive. |
Misson Libertad by Lizette M. Lantigua
Originally published in January 2012 (Pauline Books & Media, Paperback, 214 pages, ISBN 978-0819849007) Reconsideration by Emily Chaffins |
Mission Libertad
A reconsideration by Emily Chaffins I was maybe eleven or twelve when I read Mission Libertad by Lizette M. Lantigua for the first time. It has still stuck with me. When I was in high school, the memory of Lantigua’s vivid, detailed depictions of life in 1970’s Cuba inspired me to write an award-winning short story loosely based on my Cuban family’s struggles. As an adult, rereading Mission Libertad has reminded me of all I enjoyed about it. Lantigua’s historical novel for teens is sad, funny, and heartwarming all at the same time. A Cuban American and former South Florida reporter for Univision, the Miami Herald / El Nuevo Herald, and Telemundo, Lantigua incorporates detailed research and historical information. This, by the way, also makes the book an interesting read for adults. Published by Pauline Books & Media in 2012, the novel tells the story of Luis “Luisito” Ramirez Jemot, a fourteen-year-old boy struggling to survive in late 1970’s communist Cuba. Luisito’s world is turned upside down when he and his parents set off on a makeshift raft. They navigate towards the United States while having to leave Luisito’s abuela behind. Luisito and his parents reach Miami and join their family in Maryland. Some of my favorite aspects are the vibrant historical and cultural details, contrasting life in Cuba to life in America. For example, Luisito’s relatives in Miami bake churros, a traditional Cuban dessert that he never knew existed because of the food scarcity in Cuba. Luisito’s huge flock of Maryland relatives initiate him into USA life with an abundant feast, where the Cuban food selection includes “a tender lechon asado with rice and black beans, fried plantains, yucca with mojito, soft warm Cuban bread,” and “flan with shredded coconut.” American food is represented by “slices of lean turkey, stuffing, and… creamy gravy,” as well as “chocolate cake with ice cream.” It’s a clever way to represent Cuban Americans’ mixed culture. Adjusting to American life is just one of Luisito’s challenges. Before he fled Cuba, Abuela entrusted a coded message to him, instructing him to tell no one. He must find a way to travel from Maryland to Miami’s Shrine of Our Lady of Charity to deliver the message to a priest who can help to save an invaluable relic of Cuban history before it is lost. Meanwhile, two Cuban spies watch his every move. Although Luisito is the main point-of-view character, certain portions are told from other points of view, including the perspectives of Abuela, Cuban spies, and the American FBI agent tracking down those spies. In Abuela’s point of view, we learn the harsh reality of the Cuban government’s oppression. Abuela’s husband was murdered by the government. She herself has been involved in the Cuban resistance for years. In one scene, Abuela is praying in church when she receives a chilling threat from a government agent who has been spying on her: “I just want you to know that we are keeping an eye on your family. You know us and what we are capable of doing. We are everywhere.” Although the story is dramatic and tense, it’s also full of light-hearted moments. One of the main themes in the story is having gratitude for the freedoms we as Americans often take for granted. In one scene, Luisito’s cousins Tommy and Sonia dread going to the grocery store, viewing it as a chore. Luisito cannot get enough of it, much to their disbelief. When they arrived at the supermarket, Luisito was stunned . . . As by magic, the door opened by itself! He walked into a large warehouse full of food––more than he had ever seen––and people were taking loads of it in little carts to their cars. Were they looting? Were they allowed to take all this food home? . . . He was so happy he couldn’t stop smiling. He noticed no one else seemed to smile as they waited in line. I can personally relate to this story through my mom, whose family fled from Cuba and settled in Miami. My mom tells a story of her Cuban aunts, who visited Miami in the 1980s. My mom and her family were showing their Cuban relatives around Miami and decided to stop at an X-tra supermarket. When her aunts stepped inside the grocery store, they broke down weeping.
Perhaps my great-aunts were crying instead of smiling like Luisito because they knew they had to return to Cuba. If you’re looking for a spy thriller, a family drama, and a fish-out-of-water story rolled into one, Mission Libertad is for you. Luisito and Abuela continue to teach me to not take anything for granted as a reader and a descendant of Cuban exiles. Emily Chaffins is a fiction writer, journalist, and blogger. She is a graduate student in Florida International University's MFA in Creative Writing program. |
Total Constant Order by Crissa-Jean Chappell
Originally published in 2007 (Harper Teen, Hardcover, 278 pages, $6.98. Library Binding Edition, $17.98) Reconsideration by J. Armelle |
Total Constant Order
A Reconsideration by J. Armelle For Fin, the main character of Crissa-Jean Chappell’s 2007 debut novel Total Constant Order, numbers and the rituals surrounding them carry significant meaning. When her family moves from Vermont to Miami, Florida and her parents get divorced, the meaning numbers hold and the rituals begin to make her life increasingly difficult. The action takes place over the course of four months. In that time, readers get to see the world from Fin’s point of view as she not only acclimates to her new life in Miami, learns more about her Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Clinical Depression, and eventually begins to find peace and self-acceptance. The portrayal of OCD within the book is vivid, and, while it does take some time to get to Fin’s official diagnosis, readers quickly gain insight as to how the disorder affects her. While occasions when Fin is obsessed with numbers or finds herself washing her hands over and over until she gets it just right might read as stereotypical, the scene where she feels compelled to tear up a photo of her teacher’s son highlights the compulsive aspect of OCD, along with a conversation Fin has with her mother as she tries to find the words for what’s been going on: “Well, if I’m getting ready for school. I’ll be brushing my teeth and then I’ll tell myself, if I don’t brush a certain number of times, something bad will happen.” Mentioning the ritual made me want to count again. I drummed the table three times. Fin’s ability to know what she wants for herself and pursue it drives the story forward. Although her mother is initially suspicious of the drugs Fin is prescribed while in therapy, Fin ultimately decides to begin taking Paxil. Then when the various side effects of her prescription become too much, Fin decides to just stop taking them which, of course, has further repercussions.
Thayer, the one friend Fin makes, goes to the same psychiatrist but for different needs. Thayer has ADD, and he has taken several different drugs over the years to manage his symptoms, one of which was Paxil. While he no longer takes it, his experience helps Fin discover what method of coping with her OCD is best for her. Along with her parents’ divorce, the move from Vermont to Miami, Florida triggers Fin’s OCD. Many details make the setting of Miami circa 2005-2007 feel real. Duct taping Xs on windows is mentioned as a method of hurricane preparednes. Sharon, a girl who antagonizes Fin, calls her a “chonga” because of the hoop earrings she wears. When Fin and Thayer take the Metrorail downtown to explore the recently discovered Miami Circle, this is what Fin sees and thinks as they stands on a bridge: We stood near a construction site, looking down at a smattering of holes. The Miami Circle. Or as Thayer would suggest, a landing pad for spaceships. Crissa-Jean Chappell’s Total Constant Order provides young-adult readers with some insight into what living with obsessive compulsive disorder can look like while showing the importance of pursuing help for managing its symptoms. The novel lets readers, young and old alike, know that it is possible to live a happy life with OCD.
Total Constant Order, originally published in 2007, was Crissa-Jean Chappell’s first novel. Since then, she has gone on to publish several others, including Narc (2012), More Than Good Enough (2014), and Snowbirds (2017), which are set in Florida. Her words have also been featured in the Dear Bully (2011) and Life Inside My Mind (2018) anthologies. Her newest book, Sun Don’t Shine, is set to be published in Spring 2024. J. Armelle reads and writes young adult fiction. She’s taught middle school and high school students in math, history, English ,and journalism. Currently she is a graduate assistant working with First Year students while pursuing her MFA in Creative Writing at Florida International University. |
We are the Ants by Shaun David Hutchinson
(Simon & Schuster Pulse, Hardcover, 464 pp. $17.99) Reviewed by Daniel Santos |
We are the Ants
Reviewed by Daniel Santos “If you knew the world were ending, and you had the chance to stop it, would you?” This is a question repeatedly asked by Henry Denton in Shaun David Hutchinson’s new YA novel We are the Ants. The question might seem to be easy to answer, and it is for most people Henry asks in the novel, but such questions are only easy to answer when they are rhetorical. To Henry, this question is far from rhetorical. Henry is an extremely troubled teen in Calypso, Florida. Ever since he was a young boy he has repeatedly been abducted by aliens. Very few believe him. His father left shortly after his first abduction. His brother is an asshole. His mother doesn’t care anymore. His boyfriend, Jesse, recently committed suicide. And he is brutally picked on at school by Marcus McCoy—who also happens to be his secret lover. On top of all of this, aliens that highly resemble giant slugs have now advised him that the world is going to end on January 29, 2016, and that he can stop it from happening. All Henry has to do is press a button. It’s as easy as that. However, to Henry, it’s just as easy not to press the button at all. Shortly after Henry has first been presented with the chance to save the world, he contemplates the choice he has so far made: I don’t know why I didn’t press the button for real when I had the chance other than that I don’t think the aliens would have given me such a long lead time if they hadn’t wanted me to consider my choice carefully. Most people probably believe they would have pressed the button in my situation—nobody wants the world to end, right?—but the truth is that nothing is as simple as it seems. Turn on the news; read some blogs. The world is a shit hole, and I have to consider whether it might be better to wipe the slate clean and give the civilization that evolves from the ashes of our bones a chance to get it right. While this novel might seem at first glance to be science fiction, it is not. This is a novel about a teenager struggling to survive in a world where there is little good. All Henry ever experiences is the bad in humanity. He doesn’t believe mankind deserves to live because the only thing that he ever knew that was good, Jesse, is dead.
While We Are the Ants is set in Florida, it could have been set anywhere in the United States without having too much of an effect on the novel. Instead, Hutchinson, whose previous books for teens include The Five Stages of Andrew Brawley, focuses on the struggles of his characters. Readers interested in issues concerning bullying, depression, and the LGBT community will find this book to be very interesting. It is not for the faint of heart, but it’s not for the heartless either. Born in the not so mystical land of Miami, FL, Daniel Santos is an avid reader and writer of science-fiction and fantasy. He is a student at Florida International University. |
Five Ways to Fall by K.A. Tucker
(Atria, Paperback, 384 pp., $15) Reviewed by Jennifer Maritza McCauley |
Five Ways to Fall by K.A. Tucker
Reviewed by Jennifer Maritza McCauley You probably shouldn’t give K.A. Tucker’s Five Ways to Fall to your grandmother. Although Five Ways to Fall, the final installment of the Ten Tiny Breaths series, is marketed as young adult fiction, most of the characters are in their early-twenties. The characters swear, lie, visit strip clubs, gleefully peel off their clothes and have sex in a variety of places. They aren’t your model youths. They also fall in and out of love, handle heartbreak terribly, and struggle with death and divorce. Tucker’s characters are real, imperfect young adults. Tucker’s Five Ways to Fall is both an escapist romance and an accurate snapshot of youth culture. Five Ways to Fall takes place in present-day Miami, Florida. The novel is told in the alternating voices of Reese, a purple-haired paralegal at a Miami law firm, and Ben, a former bouncer and lawyer working at the same office. Reese is a self-proclaimed “slob . . . and certifiable bitch,” with a motorcycle, a foul mouth, and a history of run-ins with the law. At the beginning of the book, the twenty-year old Reese is still mourning her ex-husband, a man who cheated on her with his childhood love. Reese has a botched one-night stand with Ben to get over her loss, but the two forget each other quickly. A few months later, Ben and Reese end up working in the same office, and are thrown together to work on various projects. Shortly afterward, Reese sees her ex-husband again, with his new wife. As the book goes on, Reese clashes with her ex-husband and grapples with her unresolved feelings for him. The charismatic Ben offers to play Reese’s “pretend boyfriend” after Reese is humiliated by Caroline, her ex-husband’s new wife. As Reese gets closer to Ben, she realizes that Ben might be the better match. Reese is a pleasurable character to follow. She’s the smartest paralegal at the job but a poor student, she’s heart-hardened but sensitive to emotional pain, she’s resistant to love but secretly yearns for romantic fulfilment. Reese’s contradictions add to her believability. The character isn’t the cookie-cutter “good girl” found often in romantic fiction. She has impulsive sex, and will readily seek revenge on those who have harmed her. Reese also responds to uncomfortable situations with snark and sass. When Reese is confronted by Caroline in the bathroom of a club, Caroline grabs Reese and says, “What are you doing here?” Reese responds, “Right now I’m washing my hands.” Reese then gestures to the toilet and says, “Do you want know what I just did in there?” Reese can also be manipulative. She actively plots to get back at her cheating ex-husband to alleviate “the nasty swirls of hurt that [had encased her] for months.” She orchestrates situations in which she can show off her “fake” boyfriend to her ex. In a different novel, Reese would be a petty and prideful villain. Reese’s motivations for revenge, however, make her quest for payback somewhat excusable. In the beginning of the book, Reese admits that she is struggling through a “crazy” period of her life, and that heartbreak is controlling her actions. She says, . . . Does everyone have a moment of “crazy” in their life---when raw emotion runs over your common sense liken an eighteen-wheeler, compelling you to do and say things that make others stare . . . shake their head at you, wondering why you’re acting so foolishly, why you won’t let go . . . Perhaps when I figure out how to pick myself back up again I’ll laugh at this. Reese is the badass many readers wish they could be, and she battles relatable feelings of hurt and loss. Reese is a fully realized character, equipped with faults and charm.
Ben, Reese’s love interest, is a “type” that appears often in the young adult and romance genre. He’s a “blonde with a big obnoxious grin”, and a proud lothario with a breezy sense of humor. In many romance novels, Ben would be “tamed” by Reese, or drawn to her innocence. In Five Ways to Fall, however, Ben likes Reese because she’s edgy, blasé and bold. Ben admits, “Reese doesn’t give a f*** . . . and she’s sexier because of it . . . ” Reese and Ben match each other: they are sexually driven, funny and fearless characters. As Reese says of Ben, Ben has wormed his obnoxious self into my heart…The scariest thing is that he does it by being himself…He doesn’t hide who he is and he doesn’t lie or promise anything, he doesn’t play stupid head games. While Reese and Ben’s coupling isn’t as much surprising as it is expected in this novel, the characters are entertaining enough that readers will enjoy rooting for them.
Five Ways to Fall is an unapologetic beach read. Tucker knows what her readers want: juicy drama, fiery romance and fun. Tucker, fortunately, delivers. The novel also has well-developed characters who live and work in a believable setting. Tucker’s Miami is full of clubbing and office politics, late-night pool parties and paperwork. The characters are selfish, loving, and make mistakes in romance and in their careers. Five Ways to Fall is a delightful read that realistically portrays young adults in the transitional periods of their lives. Jennifer Maritza McCauley was raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and is a graduate student in fiction at Florida International University. |
Skink No Surrender by Carl Hiaasen
(Knopf, Hardcover, 288 pp., $19.99) Reviewed by Ed Irvin |
Skink No Surrender by Carl Hiaasen
Reviewed by Ed Irvin On the opening page of Skink No Surrender, Carl Hiaasen's first foray into the world of young adult fiction, fourteen year-old Richard is walking Loggerhead Beach, waiting for his cousin, Malley, so they may look for the nesting turtles after which their coastal Florida town in named. The always punctual Malley is two hours late, and although it isn't unusual for Malley to be grounded as a result of her rebellious streak, it is odd for her not to contact Richard and let him know when she's on lockdown. So Richard continues his walk, and his wait, by looking for new nests of which to report to authorities, who will then rope them off from nosy or clueless beachgoers. When Richard approaches an odd-looking mound of sand, what emerges is far scarier than a protective mother sea turtle. It's Hiaasen's beloved one-eyed, shower cap-wearing psychotic ex-governor, Skink, who's waiting for someone, too. A turtle egg poacher. His fear overmatched by curiosity, Richard presses on with Skink, seeking to learn more about the man. "The name's Clint Tyree," he told me, "although I haven't answered to it in years. Good night, now." For Richard, whose own father died in a freak skateboarding accident, curiosity becomes kind of a cautious admiration.
Malley, it turns out, has run away with Talbo Chock, an internet love interest, to avoid being sent to a boarding school in New Hampshire, which is where her parents believe she is. Suspicious, Richard returns to Google and discovers that Talbo Chock was a United States Marine killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan, meaning Malley doesn't really know who she's run away with. Richard enlists Skink's help, and together they set off in search of Malley. I'll be honest, when I read Skink's name in conjunction with "young adult" I was skeptical. Putting Skink in a YA novel is akin to replacing Charles Ingalls with Hannibal Lecter in Little House on the Prairie. It works, though. To the audience for whom the book is written I imagine the allusions to foul language are chuckle-worthy, such as when the man pretending to be Talbo Chock escapes Skink's grasp: "Hell," said Skink, and a whole lot more. Meanwhile for the adults reading Skink No Surrender, the allusions only add to the scene by prompting the use of imagination.
And like Mr. Miyagi and Daniel in The Karate Kid, the student-teacher dynamic between Skink and Richard is a two-way street. Richard learns from Skink about life in general, such as the lifelong burden of guilt Richard will carry if he doesn't pay for the skateboard—the exact model his father was on when he was killed—he stole from a surf shop in Saint Augustine: "Go back to that store and pay the gentleman for his merchandise. This isn't just a piece of grandfatherly advice, Richard. It's a moral instruction." In turn, Skink learns current expressions from Richard:
"He was the son of a Swiss watchmaker, swear to God. You should goggle him on your computer." There are supporting characters in Skink No Surrender whose roles are far too small given how great they are in the little print they have. Gar-fishers Nickel and brother Dime, as well as their not-seen sister, Penny, play a key role in helping Richard in his quest to rescue Malley. Let's hope Hiaasen is saving them for later returns.
Skink No Surrender is what Hiaasen must write before drinking his morning coffee. It's Skink decaffeinated, but it's still Skink. Yes, adult readers will see some of the jokes—such as the goggle/Google one—coming a mile away, but you're not the target audience. While adults may sigh and say "Saw that coming," tweeners may chuckle, roll their eyes, and say "Typical, clueless grown up." It's occasionally a laugh-out-loud, or LOL, as Richard would say, tale of misadventure. But, at times, it is a very touching coming-of-age tale worthy of the National Book Award for which it was recently long-listed. Ed Irvin, a Florida Book Review Contributing Editor, lives and writes in Boynton Beach, FL. |
El Lector by William Durbin
(Middle Grade: Grades 4-8, Pineapple Press, Paperback, 195 pp., $12.95) Reviewed by Guillermo Cancio-Bello |
El Lector
Reviewed by Guillermo Cancio-Bello In the long hall of the cigar factories, with their pillars of solid wood and walls of brick, with their humid musk and sweetness of tobacco and tropical air, the voice of El Lector, a reader, a dramatist, a counselor, a comedian, an orator, unfolds as every dried and stripped tobacco leaf is wrapped and turned into its final cylinder by men and women with white linen and mucked aprons snug around them. El Lector is the term for the person who reads the news and stories to the factory workers each day in order to keep them entertained and informed as they roll one cigar after another. William Durbin’s newest book for young readers (grades 4-8) appropriately bears the title El Lector. As in history it was a position of esteem and respect, a voice that informed as well as entertained, a voice that educated and inspired, so this book delights and teaches, opens the door to a little known or forgotten history, and any time a work draws its readers closer to the past, deepening an understanding of the human condition, that learning or awareness becomes an act of compassion. Durbin’s book is full of that tenderness and intimacy. Although it is a work of fiction, it was inspired by actual events, and the time and detail that Durbin gives to the development of his characters comes through on every page, as if the reader’s face were pressed against the rough wall of the factory, or the warm grass of the park, or the bark of the paradise tree watching the lives of these characters unfold, weeping with them, laughing with them, hoping for them. Thirteen-year-old Bella Lorente is the protagonist of the book’s narrative which is rooted in the Ybor City, Florida of the 1930s. Her mother is a widower who washes clothes in order to support her four children, Bella’s two younger sisters and her mischievous younger brother. There is also a demure goat named Rocinante whose innocent, almost foolish perseverance is admirable. Bella idolizes her grandfather, the El Lector of the El Paraiso cigar factory whose voice resonates throughout the hall. The workers applaud when he has finished reading from his favorite classics. For Bella he is a symbol of the traditions she wishes to seal in her heart, that of integrity, honor, and passion. Bella’s tia Lola also plays a role in the development of her character. Lola is a flirt, but she is also full of the flames driving the tension of that era, the desire and necessity of change, both political and personal. It is the decade of unions and bosses, and the struggle between the workers of the cigar factory and the factory owners are enflamed. All of these characters and conditions shape Bella and bring to life the story of her maturation, woven among the threads of complex and dynamic relationships, of backroom deals and prisons, of police brutality and injustice. Although the target audience for this book is the younger reader, it is a book for the more experienced as well, any who wish to lose themselves in a heroic tale. The story begins and ends in same season, in the same physical location in Ybor City, though a year has passed. This cyclical closure shows how much environment and people can change in just one movement through the months that close so quickly. It also tells that the most important change occurs within individuals, that only from that growth can we begin to effect change in our surroundings. In Bella, Durbin has created a character the reader can believe in. Bella could be any child. She is a dreamer but precocious, aware of her social situation and that of her neighbors. Her relationship to her grandfather will soften the heart of the most saturnine reader. Every movement of her body and mind are electrified by youth. Even in the dim room of the cigar factory where she is forced to work her presence brings light. Durbin captures well that possibility which only youth can embody. In the midst of the most troubling circumstances of the book the reader gets a glimpse of the beauty Bella sees, along with a sense of her vitality. The next day Bella woke early. After tending to Rocinante, she brought Grandfather breakfast. As she stepped outside with her tray, the sky was streaked with soft pink light. The air was cool, and small birds twittered on the grass beneath the palmetto. No one on the block had turned on a radio yet, so the old sounds of Ybor—the clang of the trolley and the whistle the box factory—rang out pure and clear. Each time that Bella is on the verge of a new thought or revelation the reader stands with her on that precipice staring over the edge out into a new horizon. And just as Don Quixote, whom Bella’s grandfather read relentlessly, mounted his horse to attack the windmill, so this story refuses to relinquish its hope in what is possible.
Guillermo Cancio-Bello was born in Miami, Florida. He recently graduated from the MFA Program in Creative Writing at FIU. |
Olivia Brophie and the Sky Island by Christopher Tozier
(Middle Grade: Age 8-11, Pineapple Press, Paperback, 304 pp., $12.95) Reviewed by Louis K. Lowy |
Olivia Brophie and the Sky Island
Reviewed by Louis K. Lowy When we last left ten-year-old Olivia Brophie she was on the run with a friendly bear, Hoolie, in search of her Aunt and Uncle Milligan. The Cult of Wardenclyffe, an evil organization seeking control of the all-powerful Pearl of Tagelus, had kidnapped them in the hopes that they would lead them to the Pearl. Adding to Olivia’s problems is that while fooling around with the Pearl she has upset the environment by inadvertently raising the freezing temperature of water. In Book Two of Christopher Tozier’s series for middle-graders, he follows up with an even more rousing adventure than the first. Olivia Brophie and the Sky Island is an intricate tale full of color, wonder and trouble. Pursued by the Wardenclyffe Cult, Olivia and Hoolie race cross-country and stumble upon a hidden valley populated by the Hohokam’s. They are an ancient civilization who cultivate crystals that manipulate time and space. Tozier divides the storyline. One part deals with Oliva’s quest to reach Sky Island, the floating mountain that serves as headquarters for The Cult of Wardenclyffe. That quest includes saving the Hohokams, time travel, and a giant Gila monster. The other part involves her younger brother, Gnat, and their genius friend, Doug. Their story is as exotic as Olivia’s. Back in Lyonia, Florida, Doug, Gnat and local bully, Larry, revisit the long dead, underground city of Junonia that Olivia and Doug discovered in book one. There they are transported to prehistoric times. Junonia is embroiled in a life-threatening struggle with the witch-like Walleri tribe, and primitive humans, known as the Dark Eyes. Beyond the glitter and complex weaving of the two stories, Tozier delves into Olivia, Doug, and Gnat’s emotions. That makes all the difference in the success of the tale because it allows us to care for these characters. In a particularly poignant passage, Doug—the outsider constantly tormented by bullies like Larry—comes to terms with himself and the Junonian elite called the Diadora. I used to sit in class . . . and let other kids push me around. Larry Mutch and his friends . . . laughed at my answers in class even though I was right . . . They made fun of my little ears, my haircut, and my shoes because they weren’t expensive enough . . . Book two concludes with a climatic encounter between Olivia and the Cult of Wardenclyffe. Tozier sets the groundwork for his next entry by purposely blurring the lines between who the victor and the vanquished are. Most intriguing is a hint at young love for Olivia.
Olivia Brophie and the Sky Island is a sweeping, trouble-filled, fast-paced entry in the series. If Book One was a carnival ride, Book Two is an Indy racer. Strap up and sit tight, Tozier has started his engine. Louis K. Lowy’s first published novel, Die Laughing, is a humorously dark sci-fi novel set in the 1950’s. A former firefighter, he is the recipient of a Florida Individual Artist Fellowship and received his M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Florida International University. His stories have appeared in, among others, Coral Living Magazine, New Plains Review, The MacGuffin Magazine, The Chaffey Review and the anthology Everything Is Broken. He can be reached at his website www.louisklowy.com. |
Anatomy of a Single Girl by Daria Snadowsky
(Delacorte Press, Hardcover, 371 pp., $25.99) Reviewed by Ashley M. Jones |
Anatomy of a Single Girl
Reviewed by Ashley M. Jones Being single is sometimes more complicated than being in a relationship—especially if you’re eighteen, recently heartbroken, and on summer break. That’s exactly where Dominique Baylor, the red-haired, lovelorn protagonist of Daria Snadowsky’s Anatomy of a Single Girl finds herself the summer after freshman year when she comes back home to Fort Myers, FL. Dominique is a smart girl—she has successfully completed her first year as a pre-med student at Tulane University with flying colors. She comes from a loving family and she has a loyal best friend, Amy, but she is having major troubles in the romance department. Fresh off an emotionally trying semester after a colossal breakup with her high school sweetheart (seen in Snadowsky’s debut novel, Anatomy of a Boyfriend), we find Dominique contemplating love, attraction, sex, marriage, and relationships of convenience in this entertaining novel that is great for a range of readers from teens to early-20 somethings. The novel takes us from the New Orleans airport with Calvin, Dominique’s doting friend, to the halls of the Beta House with Guy, a smoking-hot physics student at Henry Ford Institute of Technology, located in the heart of Fort Myers. Dominique can’t fall in love with Calvin, whose wholesome, always-there-for-you tendencies are, ironically, just what she’s looking for. Dominique wants to fall in love with Guy whose idea of love is very different than her own. Between her frolics (and fights) with Guy on breezy Bantam Beach and at historic Seminole Field and her quest to conquer the ever-lurking ghost of her past relationship, Dominique hopes to find solace from it all in her childhood apartment in Fort Meyers. Her supportive parents, the Sunday fishing trips on her family’s boat which she “still get[s] homesick for” when she’s at Tulane, and the sleepovers at Amy’s house are just the safe haven Dominique wants during this crazy summer. But even her safe haven turns its back on Dominique. Her internship at Lee County Medical Center is less-than educational, her best friend is flying in and out of town to visit her boyfriend, her parents try to treat her like a child by imposing a curfew, and Dominique receives news of a big change that might destroy her idea of “home.” All the while, there’s Guy and his tempting smile, whose carefree attitude and sexual experience propel the novel forward at an enjoyably quick pace. But it’s not all kisses and drama. Amid the sexual adventures, the emotional turmoil, and the teenage drama, Anatomy of a Single Girl tackles issues of maturity and values. While contemplating her relationship with Guy, Dominique considers the validity of following the rules to achieve an ideal: I’ve tried the love thing, and if it implodes, you’re damaged for life. In the meantime, I’ve been so caught up with mapping out a picture-perfect ‘forever’ that I’m completely neglecting my present, which I have far more control over anyway. Throughout the summer, Dominique grows into her own woman—a woman who can make her own decisions and enjoy her life and all its pleasures. It’s a life where she easily wields “that drive to take action instead of waiting for something to happen. And it makes [her] feel alive.”
For a wild summer of drama, love, and a little growing up, check out Anatomy of a Single Girl. Readers will discover, just as Dominique does, that being alone isn’t the same as being lonely. Ashley M. Jones is a second-year student in the Creative Writing MFA program at Florida International University. She has been published in Sanctuary Literary Magazine and Aura Literary Arts Review. |
Ten Tiny Breaths by K.A. Tucker
(Atria, Paperback, 276 pp., $15) Reviewed by Ashley M. Jones |
Ten Tiny Breaths
Reviewed by Ashley M. Jones Whirlwind. Love story. Unforgettable. These are the first words I can find to describe K.A. Tucker’s Ten Tiny Breaths. In this, her fifth young adult novel, we follow 20-year-old Kacey Cleary and her 15-year-old sister, Livie, as they escape from their evangelist aunt and lecherous uncle’s home in Grand Rapids, Michigan to the wild, hot streets of Miami, Florida. Kacey and Livie begin their new lives in a little run-down apartment building on Jackson Drive, hoping to shut out and forget the painful memories of their old lives. Memories of the horrific death of their parents, Kacey’s best friend, and Kacey’s boyfriend in a drunk-driving accident four years before. Memories of Kacey’s plunge “into a world of drugs and alcohol” and her addiction to sex with strangers. Memories of their uncle sneaking into Livie’s bedroom on the eve of their escape. Kacey hopes that this new life will finally stop the suffocating, drowning dreams that can’t seem to leave her alone. She and Livie hope that maybe, with a clean slate and a life outside of their tragedy, the Kacey they both knew before the accident, the one without a “tough Teflon exterior” will find her way back from that metallic, bloody scene four years ago. Kacey and Livie start to create newer, happier memories with their unexpectedly warm superintendent, Tanner, and their busty and beautiful neighbor, Storm. Livie settles into a new school and finds a safe haven with Storm and her daughter, Mia. Kacey starts work with Storm at Penny’s Palace, a local strip club. Everything is going just fine—money’s coming in, Kacey is finally beginning to let go of some of her pain and anger, and it seems like life will go on. That is, until Kacey meets Trent, her other neighbor. With his good looks, dynamic personality, and strange attachment to Kacey, he is a fresh breeze in Kacey’s life, “like ripe watermelon after a lifetime of thirst. He’s like air after years underwater. He’s like life.” She can either fight her attraction to this magnetic, mysterious man, or she can fall into his arms and experience happiness she’s never known. But with deep emotion comes pain. Soon, Kacey has to face the demons of her past, and a big secret about Trent threatens to ruin all of the progress Kacey has made and send her back into the watery abyss she’s been fighting for so long. Tucker’s novel deals out a series of twists and turns, and although an older audience might be able to foresee a few of the surprises on the horizon, this novel challenges all readers’ ideas of love, pain, and fate, and its conclusion is thought-provoking, to say the least. With each chapter, readers are taken on a passionate, fiery, emotional ride, and even when the ride is over, the reeling continues. For a taste of pain and an interesting take on the consequences of drunk driving, check out K.A. Tucker’s new novel, Ten Tiny Breaths. Just make sure to take a few breaths along the way. Ashley M. Jones is a second-year student in the Creative Writing MFA program at Florida International University. She has been published in Sanctuary Literary Magazine and Aura Literary Arts Review. |
Lost in the River of Grass by Ginny Rorby
(Carolrhoda Books, Hardcover, 255 pp., $17.95) Reviewed by Deb Alberto |
Lost in the River of Grass
Reviewed by Deb Alberto In Ginny Rorby’s fourth novel, Lost in the River of Grass, we meet Sarah Emerson, a smart yet somewhat ambivalent character who does not quite fit in among the prep school types at Glades Academy. Sarah’s mom works in the lunchroom at the school, but Sarah, who narrates the story, is quick to point out that her attendance at Glades is due to a scholarship based on her participation on the swimming team. She describes herself as the “token, poor-but promising” student and the academy is a place where she unsurprisingly does not fit in. At the start, Sarah is perturbed by the fact that her class is going on an overnight field trip to a swamp, and her awkward attempts to make friends aren’t going so well. That is, until she meets Andy, a local kid whose parents manage the camp where they are staying. Andy is working on his airboat at the time of their meeting, and he takes an immediate interest in Sarah, inviting her out for a ride on his airboat. Sarah figures she hasn’t much to lose, so she fakes sick to get out of the class hike and ventures out on the airboat trip. Andy, after all, shares her sense of adventure and her socioeconomic status, and, at last, she feels some camaraderie with someone. Her girlish sense of infatuation takes over as she ventures back to her tent to change into something cute. Figuring she’ll be back before the class returns after lunch she sees no harm in taking to the swamps with this seemingly harmless kid. Of course the reader knows all kinds of things can go wrong, while the character feels a young teenager's sense of invincibility. That is, until things take an inevitable turn toward disaster. In the midst of the misadventure, Sarah reluctantly learns something about conservation and the ways of nature. For instance, she pockets a duck whose family was run over and scattered when she took to the helm of the airboat. The duck remains her constant companion, despite objections from Andy who subtly tries to teach her the ways of the wild and its Darwinian nature. When Sarah suggests burying the family of ducks that was killed, Andy suggests letting them be. An argument ensues. “What have you got against letting the dead feed the living? Something should eat them,” Andy says. “Otherwise their death is wasted." As the title suggests, Sarah and Andy wind up lost in a muddy swamp crawling with snakes and alligators. Andy is the voice of reason, unafraid—after all, the Everglades is his backyard. The two venture through the darkness, sleep in trees and argue incessantly as they form a bond that can only be formed in the direst of circumstances. For Sarah, the infatuation is replaced by fear and the pain that goes along with being cold and lost in a swamp, but still she manages to find some peace in the beauty that surrounds her: A cloud had drifted across the moon, but now it moves on, exposing dozens of nervous birds scattered throughout the trees behind us. Not just great blue herons, but brilliantly white common egrets in the canopy, the smaller snowy egrets and white ibises beneath them. They looked like ghosts among the black leafy branches. Except for the mosquitos whining, the distant but ominous sound of thunder, and the discomfort of tree bark pressing into the welts on my skin, there is something about being with all these birds that is comforting. They make me feel safer. Rorby is undoubtedly familiar with the flora and fauna of the Everglades, which adds an extra layer of assimilated awareness to this adventure story. Late in the book, the reader learns something not previously revealed about Sarah, which I found a little abrupt, but overall, Lost in the River of Grass is a great read, especially to anyone interested in learning more about the Everglades and who enjoys the sense of adventure this page turner brings to life.
Deb Alberto is a Miami native and former journalist who is pursuing her MFA in Creative Writing at Florida International University. |